1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a motor vehicle road wheel driving apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for driving a pair of lefthand and righthand road wheels of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Relevant Art:
Motor vehicles have a mechanical differential coupled between a pair of lefthand and righthand drive road wheels for distributing equal torques from the engine to the drive road wheels. When one of the drive road wheels is caused to rotate idly, however, no engine torque is transmitted to the other drive road wheels, failing to drive the drive road wheels for propelling the motor vehicle. Such a problem can be eliminated by employing a limited-slip differential which combines a normal mechanical differential with a differential motion limiting capability. With the limited-slip differential, while the motor vehicle is making a turn, the drive torque is transmitted from an outer drive road wheel which rotates faster to an inner drive road wheel which rotates slower. The drive torque applied to the inner drive road wheel is therefore increased to produce a moment counteracting the moment which tends to turn the motor vehicle. As a result, the ability of the motor vehicle to make turns, or turning performance, is lowered.